There are systems or related art available for defining metadata of data elements on phones, for example, the MPEG standard. Systems store the ‘about information’ of any data (video, audio, image, etc.) These systems store metadata information on content along with the content, for example, in the form of an exchangeable image file (EXIF) header. The metadata information goes along with the data content. Thus, stored metadata information is common for all users.
Different applications mounted on mobile devices manipulate the metadata in order to perform user-intended tasks. These applications may or may not use the same database for these user-intended tasks. Examples of these applications are phonebooks, Short Message Services (SMSs), Multimedia Messaging Services (MMSs), cameras, file-viewers, etc.
Conventional mobile communication applications address the usability by defining UI guidelines for the respective applications, for example, how to use a left-soft-key for a positive action, how to use a center-select key for an ‘OK’ action, etc. These UI guidelines are not always uniform across different mobile device manufacturers.
Conventional mobile communication applications provide a static way of classifying the data elements. For example, a phonebook or instant messaging (IM) application may provide a way to configure some entries as ‘friends’, others as ‘relatives’, and so on. Camera applications may provide a way of putting photos into different folders.
Advanced mobile phones have a ‘search’ function implemented with regard to the data elements in phones, for example, GOOGLE Desktop. This search function typically aims at a given text input.
The following are search results for related art in the related fields, and describe how the present invention is different from the related art.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0035632A1 entitled ‘Apparatus and Method for Facilitating Contact Selection in Communication Devices’ was filed on Aug. 16, 2004. This patent publication provides a method and apparatus for facilitating a contact selection in communication devices. The technique enables monitoring of the communication attributes of a previous communication. A plurality of history lists maintain contacts, which satisfy selection criteria, based on the monitored communication attributes. These history lists enable a user to select an intended contact using minimum keystrokes. The patent publication describes a method of automatically categorizing contacts into multiple categories. However, the patent publication does not describe categorization of data elements other than contacts.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,003,327, entitled ‘Heuristically Assisted User Interface for Wireless Communication Device,’ was filed on Jun. 14, 2000. The assignee is Openwave Systems Inc. The patent publication provides an apparatus and method for managing contacts in a mobile device. The mobile device assists a user in managing and utilizing contact identifiers such as phone numbers, email addresses, facsimile numbers, uniform resource locators (URLs), etc. Content stored in the mobile device is processed and analyzed for the presence of predetermined classes of contact identifiers. The patent publication further enables the user to automatically undertake a specific task when messages or calls from pre-identified contacts are received. The patent publication provides a user interface for automatically categorizing and managing contact information in the mobile device. However, no information is given on the management of data elements other than contact information.
JP2003219065A entitled ‘Mobile Phone and Information Management Method in the Mobile Phone’ was filed on Jan. 18, 2002. The Assignee is NEC Access Technica Ltd. Provided is a user interface (UI) by which a user can easily select/search area information and easily perform operations, such as erasure of data of the area information, in a mobile phone with a function of receiving the area information through an area information distribution service. The patent publication describes categorization of information into different directories according to a location or area where the mobile phone operates. However, this patent publication does not describe categorization of data according to user interest and manual or automatic updating of the data.